Dallas Stars: How Does This Year’s Start Compare to Other Nill-Era Years?

The Dallas Stars are currently the definition of mediocrity, with a 4-4-0 record and a 0 goal differential.

How does the start of this Dallas Stars season compare to other years under Jim Nill’s management?

Nill took over before the 2013-14 season, in an offseason that brought about a lot of change for the organization.

That offseason saw Glen Gulutzan go out and Lindy Ruff come in. Brenden Morrow left and Jamie Benn replaced him as captain. Nill made a statement trade and brought in Tyler Seguin. The Victory Green jerseys and branding redesign came that summer to accompany everything else that was new.

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The 2013-14 campaign started out 3-5-0, worse than this year, but the Stars returned to the playoffs that season after missing the previous five years. They lost in the first round against the Ducks, but at least they’d made the postseason for a change.

They didn’t the following season, but they had a better start. They opened the season 4-2-2 in 2014-15, notching 10 points in their first eight games. However, that improved start quickly fell off as their eighth game of the season was the first in a seven-game losing streak.

Things seemed to turn around the following year, when the Stars came out and had their best start ever on their way to winning the division. They were 6-2-0 after eight games and made it until January without losing consecutive games. That 2015-16 season was a fantastic run for the team, but they haven’t done anything like it since.

In 2016-17, the Stars dropped hard, not even breaking 80 points for the season. They began the year 3-4-1, and kept hovering in mediocrity all season, ending up 34-37-11. It was a rough year for the Stars with a lot of injuries, and they ended up shipping a lot of players out at the trade deadline.

Last season, the team started out losing three out of four, but they went on a four-game win streak and got themselves to 5-3-0 after eight games. They eventually missed the playoffs, but it was actually a close race, unlike the year before.

The Stars haven’t had a terrible start under Nill, but they’ve definitely had years that are better than others. A strong start can set up a team for a nice season, like in 2015-16. That 6-2-0 start kept building through the end of 2015, when the team got up to 28-8-3 before the team cooled off a little bit.

On the flip side, a losing streak that goes on a little too long like in 2014-15 can make it really hard for a team to bounce back from, especially when they’re playing divisional opponents.

The start of the season is only the beginning, so concerns often gets brushed aside because it’s early, but that only lasts for so long before your record starts to just reflect where you’re at as a team. The Stars need to step up and break out of this mediocrity if they want to make the postseason this year.